When a leader needs someone to help him give and get information in order to implement effective management,

Secretarial and secretarial work began to appear.

-Situ Yunchang

The secretarial work in ancient China originated very early. The Book of the World contains: "In the world of the Yellow Emperor, a historian was established, and Cang Xie and Juyong occupied their positions." The earliest secretaries were called "history". However, these full-time secretaries of the Yellow Emperor have a clear division of labor. Obviously, secretaries and secretarial work existed before the Yellow Emperor.

The earliest secretarial organization was Taishiliao of Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The Zhou Dynasty became more and more complete, and the "Five History" was divided into different parts. Some secretarial work systems have been established, mainly including official document production system (such as the production of official documents in The Analects of Confucius, which needs initial creation, discussion, revision and polishing), official document signature and original copy system, official document filing and storage system, confidentiality system such as "mud printing" and printing, and "collecting wind" system for observation and research.

After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, the secretarial work system became more and more complete, including the Prime Minister's Office, the Taiwei Office and the Imperial Palace. The ancient imperial history is that "the ministers are in charge of the world's documents." Han inherited the Qin system. Tan Sitong's Benevolence: "Two thousand years of government, Qin Zheng also." During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the system of secretary division, clerical work, staff advice, clerical books management and so on was established, especially the clerical work system. For example, it is stipulated that strategies, books, imperial edicts and commandments are imperial documents (part two), and chapters, tables, plays and refutations are bureaucratic documents (part one). Establish official document delivery system, such as writing step by step, postal delivery and running script record palindrome system (record official document delivery schedule, time and registration of sending and receiving documents).

Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties inherited the system of Qin and Han Dynasties, and made new development. The secretary who specializes in the notes of the emperor's official residence can be regarded as the source of "memorabilia" and "meeting minutes" in later generations. Establish a system of official document bookmark to official seal, and change the mud printing method to "cinnabar watermark" on the last page of official document. In addition, it is also stipulated that official documents should be "put into the Yellow River" (important official documents should be soaked in Phellodendron amurense juice to prevent moths), and the approval of the judgment should be "Zhu Chu Mo Jin" (judged with ink pen and judged with Zhu pen).

The system of "one product and one thing" was widely adopted in Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, and the official document circulation system was established. "yellow paste" system ("yellow paste", paste yellow paper to rewrite the document in the wrong place; "Yellow paper", write the summary of communication on yellow paper and stick it before communication). There are nearly 30 articles about the document system in "On the Laws of Tang Dynasty". Letters and visits shall be handled by the procuratorial suggestions. Secretary selection mainly passed the imperial examination, resulting in a bachelor's secretary. To establish the secretary responsibility system, there were "four prohibitions" in the Tang Dynasty: "one, leakage, two, delay, three, violation, four, forgetting mistakes." ("Old Tang Book Official History")

The writing rules of "one article and one thing" in Song Dynasty have been institutionalized. Volume 16 of Qing Yuan Tiao Law and Shi Lei says: "When doing official business, tell the truth directly. If the name and certificate are different, you should distribute them to yourself, not to a case, and not to the same. " Documents are closely related to the sending and receiving, registration, sending and receiving, reading and reading of reminders, and the procedures are clear. Archives are generally set up from the central government to the local government, and the archives management has formed a system. There is a Deng Wengu Hospital. If the complainant feels that the Gulou Hospital has not handled it properly, he can continue to complain to the procuratorate.

The system of "one case, one volume" was adopted in the document archives of the Yuan Dynasty. Both filing and filing pay attention to the difference between new cases and old cases, and pay attention to the "problem characteristics" of files. Deliver urgent documents by "dispatch". Official documents are written in vernacular. The establishment of official documents according to the brush, grinding system, check whether the document is unreasonable, wrong, leakage and check whether the wrong brush is corrected.

In the Ming Dynasty, the system of playing tickets (notes) was established, that is, after receiving the paper and reading it, the cabinet ministers drafted their opinions with small tickets (notes) and submitted them to the emperor for examination and decision, similar to the "playing notes" of modern official documents. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the right to reply to the memorial fell to Jane. Ming Taizu established the "General Political Department" to strengthen the work of letters and visits.

During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, the military department was established, and the imperial edict was drafted by the Minister of Military Affairs. After the emperor read it, it was sent to the cabinet, and the secret edict was sealed by the Minister of Military Affairs. A secret broadcast system was established. The materials in the first-level archives of the central government in the Qing Dynasty were well preserved, including cabinet notebooks (official documents reporting government affairs to the emperor), memorials of Zhu Pi from the military department, and deputy memorials. Local archives and private archives (such as Confucius archives in Qufu) are also very rich. In the late Qing dynasty, the government also formulated the Regulations on Punishing the Disclosure of Military Secrets.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, urgent and confidential documents (such as inscriptions, posts in the Ming Dynasty and memorials in the Qing Dynasty) were added, the postal delivery system from the capital to various places was improved, and the "Good News Office" was set up to be responsible for the rapid submission of memorials, the delivery of imperial edicts and the folding and approval.